Looking forward to a new work culture, in the post-Covid world

• We are living in unprecedented times when all we knew about work culture has completely been turned on its head. While the agencies have thrived on togetherness for years, when it comes to meetings, pitching and brainstorming, the last few weeks have taken everything to the virtual world.
• However, we know that this isn't our permanent state of being. We will soon come out of it.
• There is a need to prepare for an uncertain future which might give rise to a completely new work culture. And this is the time to prepare for it, writes Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch.

Do I crave an office? My colleagues? A warm meeting with a client we worked with for years, the thrill of meeting a new client we’ve worked so hard to get. Lunches in office, beers on Friday, long brainstorms and healthy arguments, airports and hotels and just about everything I took for granted in my 'old life'. I miss all of it. Even the Monday blues.

But, it’s also taught me to prepare for continuous uncertainty. That this virus may not be the first or last of it’s kind. That we need to be prepared and hence be responsible for the sake of our colleagues and clients. I would rather be prepared than just hopeful. So let’s also prepare for what it will take, to make a new work culture. Rewrite something that has always been built on strong social and human connection? I believe in human being’s ability to learn and grow. To find ways to connect, we are social beings and also the biggest innovators in the world. One may call it an old way vs a new way. But it is a way we need to learn to work with.

I would want nothing more than to meet all the people that have helped build The Glitch in person. However, the future is not black and white. What is the point of this experience if we don’t learn from it? We are not going to be in this level of intense lockdown forever. So what does a new work world look like? And when things ease what can we take from it?

1. That you don’t have to always work from office. Remember the people we spoke of at lunch, who quit their jobs and packed their bags and headed to the hills and could work for various companies from the comfort of their home/hill or beach. We could have that too! Planned WFH days, but with a balanced structure. Time to tune in and out. Time to get off the grid and back on it again. The possibilities are unlimited. We could attain true balance in life.
   
2. That while meeting in person feels so good and can still happen when safe, we can do so well on video calls and celebrate success and learn from our failures. We can make our kids say hello to each other, talk about our dogs and work out together and still love and respect each other’s professional abilities as much. That when we meet, even if between long breaks that meeting is meaningful.
   
3. That if we take care of our company and keep it tight, we can still keep our people protected and give our clients a motivated, happy and secure team to work with. That keeping our team mentally healthy and physically safe will have a lasting impact on the company we build.
   
4. That this will end, but when? Let’s stop thinking about that but instead focus on how to make the world work better. Build a company that is geared to handle another crisis of this proportion. To make our clients feel confident that we are great when all together in an office but equally great when forced to work remotely. That we can be true partners in this new world because we are prepared and we adapted.

There is no new world or old world, just your ability to pick up and move, forward.

- This column has been authored by Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch.